What is Phala Network and How Does it Work
What is Phala Network and How Does it Work
What is Phala Network?
This blockchain is a trustless processing platform that enables massive cloud processing without compromising confidential data. Built around TEE-based privacy technologies already embedded into modern processors, Phala Network's distributed cloud processing is both versatile and confidential. With processing mechanism from processing, Phala ensures highly scalable processing power. Together, these create an infrastructure for robust, secure, and dispensable trustless cloud processing.
As a parachain member of Polkadot's cross-chain ecosystem, Phala will be able to provide processing power to other blockchain applications while protecting the data layer, enabling possibilities such as DeFi trading positions protecting privacy and transaction history, co-processing DID confidential data, developing lightweight cross-chain bridges. , and much more.
On-chain services currently under development on the Phala Network include Web3 Analytics: Phala's pioneering high-tech smart contracts enable highly privacy-concurrent bulk data analysis, paving the way for an alternative to Google Analytics that inherently protects individual privacy.
Procedure
Phala Network is a new approach that seeks to bring confidentiality into smart contracts by leveraging specialized Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) hardware. It aims to provide privacy-preserving smart contracts, to achieve four goals:
- Protect the privacy of managed dApps.
- Offers processing power on par with existing cloud services.
- Maintain Blockchain security and distrust. All processing operations in Phala cannot be trusted.
- Provides cross-chain interoperability without compromising confidentiality.
Some key concepts from the Phala Network
Listed below are some of the key concepts that are an integral part of the Phala network. Knowing them is important for understanding how the Phala network adds a layer of secrecy to smart contracts.
pRunTime stands for Phala Network Secure Enclave Runtime. It is a runtime that executes secret contracts based on secret processing.
TEE (Trust Execution Environment) is a specialized hardware component that operates in complete isolation from the rest of the system. It has independent encrypted memory areas, registers, caches, and operates independently of the operating system, BIOS, virtual machine monitor (VMM) or other core components.
It's like the Black Box; what is stored or happens inside the TEE is not known to the outside world. In simple words, TEE is a tamper-resistant processor. Phala Network is a network of TEE nodes connected worldwide without permission.
TEE workers like Bitcoin or Ethereum Miners. They operate TEE nodes. Anyone with a TEE-supported device can participate in the Phala network to operate as a worker, but there is a pre-registration process. Also, there is a Gatekeeper to verify worker hardware and ensure that they are running unmodified pRunTime. Workers are outside the chain.
Gatekeepers are like TEE workers. In fact they operate on TEE. They also need to be remembered and registered in the Phala network. Gatekeeper serves as Master key and Contract key manager. Gatekeepers are also off-chain.
Users are clients operating on normal devices. The user does not oblige the TEE to use confidential contracts. They can inquire and deploy smart contracts and even verify events on the Blockchain.
The Phala Blockchain is the core of the Phala network. It stores identities for all off-chain communications that occur between workers, users and gatekeepers. Be it published secret contracts, Worker Nodes, encrypted contract states, user request transactions, worker states, gatekeeper states, they are all on the Phala blockchain. In addition, it can interoperate with other blockchains using the Polkadot relay chain.
What are the main advantages of Phala Network?
- Phala is secured against system level attacks as sensitive data is processed by TEE, an isolated processor,
- Only official actions protecting keys are allowed on the network
- All off-chain and on-chain communications are end-to-end encrypted.
- Off-chain code and execution can be enabled on-chain.
- As a Polkadot Substrate based parachain, Phala is designed for cross-chain interoperability and communication.
- Being interoperable, Phala can offer processing power to other blockchain applications.
